Lisa A. Fontenot

Lisa A. Fontenot is a partner in the Palo Alto office of Gibson, Dunn. She is a member of the firm's Mergers and Acquisitions, Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance and Emerging Technologies Groups.

Ms. Fontenot counsels clients across a variety of industries, including some of the world’s leading technology companies, innovative startups (semiconductor, internet, precision automation, software and telecommunications), and investment banking and private equity firms. Ms. Fontenot provides counsel to company Boards of Directors and management on legal issues covering ongoing corporate governance and regulatory matters to strategic matters, including M&A and capital market strategies. She has extensive experience representing both U.S. and foreign buyers and sellers successfully completing U.S.and cross-border mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures or investments. Ms. Fontenot has also represented issuers and investment banks in connection with public and private securities offerings.

Representative clients have included Adept Technology, Inc., Cadence Design Systems, Inc., The Gores Group, Infineon Technologies AG, Intel Corporation, Medem, Inc. and Playdom Inc. Ms. Fontenot also serves as pro bono legal counsel to Precita Eyes Muralists Association, a San Francisco community mural arts center.

Ms. Fontenot is the Co-editor of the treatise “A Practical Guide to SEC Proxy and Compensation Rules” (a Wolters Kluwer publication) and author of the chapter “Audit Committee Disclosures.” Other recent publications include “Risk Management in M&A Transactions” at boardmember.com, “Earnings Forecasts: To Guide or Not to Guide” and The Business Lawyer's “2007 Annual Review of Federal Securities Regulation”(contributing author).” She appears as a speaker at continuing legal education programs about securities and corporate governance matters.

Ms. Fontenot also serves on the Advisory Board of the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF).

Ms. Fontenot is a member of the State Bar of California. She received her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1994, with distinction as a member of the Order of the Coif and receipt of the Edwin S. Cohen tax scholarship, where she served on the Board of the Virginia Journal of International Law. In 1994, she also received an M.A. degree in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. She received her B.S., magna cum laude, from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in 1990, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Representative Mergers, Acquisitions and Joint Ventures

• Adept Technology, Inc. - acquisitions of Denmark-based InMoTx, Inc., MobileRobots, Inc., NanoMotion Incorporated, Pensar-Tucson, Inc., Meta Control Technologies, Inc., HexaVision Technologies Inc., and Chad Industries, Inc.
• Amazon.com - acquisition of Canadian corporation Abebooks, Inc.
• Cadence Design Systems, Inc. - "White Knight" acquisition of Quickturn Design Systems, Inc., the subject of a hostile tender offer by Mentor Graphics Corporation; and acquisition of public company Simplex Solutions, Inc. and private company CadMOS Design Technology, Inc.
• Del Monte Corporation - asset acquisition from Agrilink Foods, Inc.
• GE Power Systems - acquisitions of Praxis Engineers, Inc. and Bentley Nevada Corporation
• Giga-tronics Incorporated - mergers with Microsource, Inc. and Ultracision, Inc.
• Graphisoft N.V. - acquisition of Drawbase Software, Inc.
• Gores Technology LLC - acquisition of high-pressure waterjets business of Avure Technologies, Inc. from Flow International Corporation
• Infineon Technologies AG - acquisition of DSL-CPE business from Texas Instruments; acquisition of cellular/satellite receiver business from LSI Corporation; and merger with private company, Primarion, Inc.
• Intel Corporation - acquisition of Netherlands-based Silicon Hive B.V., acquisition of cable modem business from Texas Instruments, joint venture with STMicroelectronics and Francisco Partners to form Numonyx B.V. and subsequent sale to Micron Technology; divestiture of assets of Intel's applications and communications processor (wireless) business to Marvell Technology Group, Ltd.; acquisition of U.K. RF Front-End Consumer Business from Zarlink Semiconductor Inc.; asset acquisition from Stanford Telecommunications, Inc.; and mergers with LightLogic, Inc., NSerial Corporation, SoftCom Microsystems, Inc., Dayna Communications, Inc., and VxTel, Inc.
• Macrospace, Ltd. - sale of U.K.-based mobile gaming company to Glu Mobile Inc.
• Medem, Inc. - sale of iHealth assets to Medfusion, Inc. and sale of Health Care Notification Network to a private equity-backed company, PDR Network Inc.
• Nortel Networks Corporation - acquisition of Tasman Networks, Inc.
• Oldcastle, Inc. - acquisition of Carson Industries, LLC.
• Pacific Growth Equities - represented financial advisor to Planar Systems in its acquisition of Clarity Visual Systems
• PeopleSoft, Inc. - cash/stock tender offer of public company, J.D. Edwards & Company ($1.8 billion)
• Playdom Inc.- acquisition of social gaming company by Disney Interactive
• Playfish Ltd. - sale of U.K.-based social gaming company to Electronic Arts. (U.S. counsel)
• THQ, Inc. - several private company acquisitions
• Transamerica Finance Corporation - sale of Transamerica Home First
• Washington Mutual Bank - acquisition of Industrial Bank

Representative Public and 144A Securities Offerings (issuer or underwriter representation)

• Adept Technology, Inc. - registered common stock offering
• Cadence Design Systems, Inc. - spinoff and proposed IPO of Tality Corporation
• CRL Network Services, Inc. - proposed IPO
• Graphisoft N.V. (Deutsche Bank) - IPO
• Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. (Morgan Stanley & Co.) - 144A and registered Senior Debt offerings
• Hewlett Packard - 144A Zero Coupon Subordinated Notes offering
• Intel Corporation - Puerto Rican AFICA Bond remarketing
• Interpacket Networks, Inc. - proposed IPO
• Lexar Media, Inc. - (JPMorgan Chase) IPO
• THQ, Inc. - registered public common stock offering
• Whole Foods Market, Inc. (Morgan Stanley & Co.) - 144A Zero Coupon Note offering

Representative Private Equity/Strategic Investments

• Adept Technology, Inc. - common stock and preferred stock PIPE financings
• Cadence Design Systems, Inc. - strategic equity and convertible debt investments in several private companies
• Gryphon Investors - restructuring and debt and equity financings of Celerity Group, Inc. (fka Kinetics Group, Inc.)
• Intel Corporation - equity investments and debt financings in numerous private companies
• Medem, Inc. - preferred stock and convertible note financings
• Valchemy, Inc. (formerly MAE Software) - preferred stock and convertible note financings
• Xilinx Inc. - equity investments in private companies